Hanging Garden: Making good use of (free!) 6,000 liters of water/year

I’ve been asked to provide updates on our Hanging Garden Project. We’ve got new planters, ‘freshly donated seeds’… and a cost-free watering system. For the ones not (yet!) familiar with the ‘mathematics behind getting cost-free water‘, here’s how it works: Our middle/high school students have been deeply involved in building a system with planters made from recycled PET bottles, as seen on the right.

Besides that, we’ve discovered a great source of clean/distilled water for all the watering needs: the several air conditioning devices, spread throughout the school campus. So, the students began collecting the not-before-managed water… But, how could they find out how much water would be “released” by the AC devices?

The answer to that question morphed into a mini-mathematical project: Math students were asked to develop a strategy to evaluate the volume of water released by the AC equipments, write their assumptions down (hourly rate, number of school days, etc), and today presented their results: on average, an AC device is capable of releasing over 6,000 liters of water during the course of a regular school year.

Way more than enough for keeping the Hanging Garden alive and growing! 😮

So easy, you’d love it! Cut one PET bottle open, like a tub, have some sponge material, or organic fiber at the bottom, to retain humidity (remember to have the holes on the bottom, for drainage!), fill the planter with the mix of soil/top soil, and voilá! 😮 Let me know if you need any help, and keep me posted of your progress on your new garden! 😮

Great. Very simple, a bit of time invested, but not much… the students seem to be really committed, which is good… Glad you liked it! Come back for updates, the beginning of next week, I’m sure to have new seedlings! 😮

I’m trying to figure out where I can hang them and not tick off the property owners, but I am thinking there is a metal fence in the back that could use some prettying up! Plus it’d be easy to fashion a hanging system without involving new holes in walls! Great idea! Thanks!

Thanks! I’ll make sure I keep posting updates on the “hanging garden project”… It’s still in its first stages, but we got all modules already built (64); we’ve got hang some more 15, do more planting, and wait for the results… Will make sure there’s at least, a “salad-making class” posted here! 😮 I’m glad it’s appreciated. Just sharing experiences with the students, and taking advantage of any teaching opportunity to share the love for growing things… 😮 Thanks for stopping by and sharing your impressions!